


when crazy feels like home

by helsinkibaby



Series: Among the Stars [1]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Community: comment_fic, F/M, Fluff, Het, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-10-14 21:55:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10544972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: Joe and Caitlin are stuck in a spaceship.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Theme: space  
> Prompt: Caitlin/Joe, somehow they get stuck on a spaceship

After three weeks on the Wave Rider, Joe thinks he's going stir crazy. Or maybe just crazy. He can't be sure any more so he seeks out a medical opinion, goes to Caitlin in her medbay - and it's amazing, really, how quickly they'd all begun to think of it as hers - spills his guts and concludes with, "Give it to me straight... am I losing my mind?" 

If her laugh is anything to go by, she's not big on sympathy. Then again, maybe she's just feeling the same way he is. That suspicion is borne out when she shakes her head gently, says, "If you are, I am too." 

Joe lifts an eyebrow as he crosses his arms over his chest. "You're hiding it better than I am." Part observation, part accusation, it has her cheeks darkening as she sits down on the bed. She swings her feet as she looks at him and he's suddenly reminded of a much younger Iris doing much the same thing. A sudden pang of longing for his baby girl sweeps over him and he almost misses Caitlin's next words. 

"I think it helps that they actually need a doctor," she says and he can't deny that she's been kept busy since their enforced stay here. Her lips twist in something that's almost a smile. "I thought Barry was danger prone." There's a tone to his voice that he recognises - he knows wistful when he hears it. He's certainly felt it often enough lately. 

"Not so much a cop though." He moves around to the side of the bed, pulls himself up so that he's sitting beside her. "I think Rory wants to fire me out a photon tube." 

Caitlin tilts her head. "Photon tubes? Are they a real thing?" 

"Hell if I know." He shrugs and she laughs. "Years of watching 'Star Trek' with Barry, I thought that was as close as I'd get to space travel. Now here I am..."

"It's for the best." She leans in towards him a little so that their shoulders bump together. "If you'd stayed..."

"I know." And he does. If he'd stayed, there's no doubt he'd be dead now, thanks to the Big Bad du Jour. Just like if she'd stayed, she'd be in jail, thanks to said Big Bad outing her as Killer Frost. "I just miss my kids... and come on, if it's a time ship, shouldn't we just be able to hop ahead, land back when it's safe?" Why they couldn't was something Rip had never given them an entirely satisfactory answer for. 

"We will" Caitlin sounds more sure of it than he feels. "Once it's safe for you... Once they've figured out a way to clear me..." She looks around her then meets his eyes, a small smile on her lips. "Then we can leave all this behind." He chuckles at that and she continues, warming to her theme. "We can get a decent cup of coffee... you can cook some of Grandma Esther's recipes..."

His mouth actually waters at the prospect. "Sunday morning brunch with the kids," he muses. "Sitting reading the sports pages while Barry and Wally fight over the comics and Iris tries not to laugh..."

Caitlin's eyes close dreamily. "A long hot bubble bath," she says and the image causes his mind to short circuit for a second. "Candles lighting, a cold glass of wine..." She must suddenly remember who she's talking to because her cheeks flush crimson as her eyes fly open. Biting her lip, she looks down but in that brief moment, it's not embarrassment he sees in her eyes. 

He mimicks her earlier movement, leans in and lets his shoulder knock against hers. "Sounds good," he says and if he lets his voice drop a little lower than usual, she doesn't seem to mind. Not if the way she leans in to him is any indication. 

He can't decide if he's feeling brave or reckless or maybe as crazy as he feared he was when he came in here, but either way, the result is the same. He reaches out slowly, carefully, takes her hand in his and laces their fingers together. She offers no resistance, tightens her grip instead and relaxes so that she's leaning into him, her body warm and small against his. 

Joe closes his eyes, takes a deep breath and suddenly it almost feels like home. 

Then there's a clatter of boots coming down the hall and Rory's voice shouting, "Doc, we got incoming!" and Caitlin's on her feet before he can register that he needs to move. 

She utters a word he's never heard her use before, follows it up with, "For goodness sake, what now?" It's said quietly, so no-one else hears the touch of asperity in her voice and Joe wonders how often she thought that back in STAR Labs, just like he wonders if it means anything that she let him hear it just now. 

When she meets his gaze again, when she smiles and leans in and brushes her lips, ever so gently, across his, he decides it does. "We'll continue this later?" she says and he grins as he nods, moves away from the bed just as Rory appears, half carrying a Jax who looks very much the worse for wear. 

"Move it, Columbo," Rory orders and for once, one of his many nicknames doesn't make Joe bristle. Instead he smiles to himself as Caitlin goes about her business and he thinks that if this is what crazy feels like, he should have gone there sooner.


End file.
